How to play Durak: rules of the Russian card game

Rules in short: each player gets six cards from a 36-card pack, and the next card is turned up to set trumps. The attacker plays a card; the defender must beat it with a higher card of the same suit or with a trump. The attacker may throw in more cards of ranks already on the table. If the defender beats everything, those cards go out and the defender attacks next. If not, the defender takes them all. Both players draw back up to six after every round. When the pack is gone, the first player to run out of cards is safe, and the one left holding cards is the durak, the fool.

The pack Deal and trumps Attack and defence Throwing in Taking Drawing The durak Example Variations Strategy FAQ

The pack

Durak uses a 36-card pack: a standard deck with the 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s taken out. In each suit the cards rank from high to low: ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6.

The deal and trumps

Each player gets six cards. The next card is turned face up, and its suit is trumps for the whole game. The rest of the pack is laid face down across it, so the trump card stays visible and is the very last card to be drawn.

In the first game, the player holding the lowest trump attacks first. In later games, the player who was not the durak attacks first. (Snug Table also has to settle a case most rule books skip: if nobody holds a trump, you attack first; after a drawn game, the player who did not open the previous game opens the next.)

Attack and defence

The attacker leads any card face up. The defender must beat it by laying a card on top of it:

• a higher card of the same suit, or
• any trump, if the attacking card is not a trump. A trump attack can only be beaten by a higher trump.

There is no need to follow suit: you may beat a small card with a trump even when you hold a higher card of its suit, though it is usually a waste.

Throwing in

After each beat, the attacker may throw in another card, as long as its rank matches a card already on the table, attacking or defending. If a 7 was beaten by a 10, the attacker may now add any 7 or any 10. This is why the game is called podkidnoy, “throw-in” Durak.

A round can never have more than six attacking cards, and never more than the number of cards the defender held when the round began. If the defender started the round with three cards, three is the limit.

When the attacker has nothing to add, or doesn’t want to, the round is over. All the cards on the table go out of play, and the defender becomes the next attacker.

Taking

If the defender can’t beat a card, or decides not to, they take it. Before the defender picks up, the attacker may still throw in more cards of matching ranks, within the same limit. Then the defender takes every card on the table, beaten or not, into their hand, and the same attacker leads the next round.

Drawing back to six

At the end of every round, both players draw from the pack until they hold six cards again: the attacker first, then the defender. A player who already holds six or more draws nothing. When the pack runs short, the attacker may get the last cards, including the turned-up trump, and the defender gets fewer or none.

Who is the durak

Once the pack is empty, play goes on without drawing. As soon as one player has no cards left at the end of a round, they are out of danger, and the other player is the durak. If both run out in the same round (the defender beats the attacker’s last card with their own last card), the game is a draw.

Durak has no winner, only a loser. On Snug Table the scoreboard counts how many times each of you has been the durak.

An example round

Hearts are trumps. You attack with the 7♠. The computer beats it with the 10♠. You hold the 10♦, so you throw it in. The computer has no higher diamond and doesn’t want to spend a trump on it, so it takes. Before it picks up you could throw in any other 7 or 10, but you have none. The computer takes the 7♠, 10♠ and 10♦. You draw back to six, the computer draws nothing (it already holds more than six), and you attack again.

Variations

• Perevodnoy (transfer) Durak: a defender who holds a card of the same rank as the attack may add it and pass the whole attack on to the next player. Not available on Snug Table yet.
• Swapping the trump six: in many games, a player holding the six of trumps may exchange it for the turned-up trump card while the pack lasts. Rules on this vary a lot from table to table, and Snug Table does not use it.
• Five cards in the first round: in games of more than two, the very first attack of a game is often limited to five cards. With two players it doesn’t apply.
• More players: with three to six players, the neighbours of the defender may also throw in cards, and partnerships of two against two are common.

Strategy

• Lead low, keep trumps. Get rid of small non-trump cards while the pack lasts. Trumps and aces are your defence for the end, when you can’t draw.
• Lead ranks you hold twice. If you hold two 8s, leading one lets you throw in the other.
• Beat cheaply. Use the lowest card that does the job, and don’t spend a trump on a 6 unless you must.
• Taking is not always bad. Early in the game, picking up two small cards can be cheaper than spending your best trump. Late in the game every card you take is one more you have to get rid of.
• Count the cards. With only 36 cards, watch which ones go out. Once the pack is empty, every card you haven’t seen is in your opponent’s hand, and the end can be worked out exactly. The coach does just that.